DeKALB | The suspect arrested in a foiled terror plot in Rockford late last week allegedly listed targets in DeKalb County, specifically the DeKalb County Courthouse, 110 E. Sycamore St. in Sycamore, and synagogues in the area.

Derrick Shareef, 22, was arrested in Rockford Wednesday and charged with planning to detonate four hand grenades at CherryVale Mall. The explosions would have turned garbage cans into flying shrapnel. Authorities said Shareef was arrested by an undercover agent after attempting to trade two stereo speakers for the grenades.

According to the affidavit, he listed courthouses, town halls and local synagogues around Rockford and DeKalb as future targets. Shareef was also quoted as planning to “smoke a judge” and “shank some Jews.”

Shareef was charged Friday with one count of attempting to damage or destroy a building by fire or explosion and one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. If found guilty, Shareef could face a life sentence.

“He fixed on a day of Dec. 22 on Friday… because it was the Friday before Christmas and thought that would be the highest concentration of shoppers that he could kill and injure,” said Robert Grant, the agent in charge of the Chicago FBI office, in a press conference Friday.

In the same conference, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said despite the serious charges, the public was not in danger; Shareef had been under investigation since September, when he told an acquaintance he planned to commit acts of “violent jihad.” Grant called the attempt a “one-man operation,” the only other people involved being government agents.

Local reaction

“This disturbs me,” said Cary Wolovick, president of the NIU Hillel organization, which meets at Congregation Beth Shalom, 820 Russel Road. “It disturbs me that someone would try to blow up something that I’m part of.”

Wolovick said he spent Friday night on the phone with concerned congregation members, but that everyone he spoke with seemed to be more alarmed than afraid.

For some students, it seems unlikely that another terror incident will follow this one soon, due to DeKalb’s remoteness in comparison to metropolitan areas like New York or Chicago.

“Why choose DeKalb or Rockford?” wondered Justin McConkey, a sophomore accountancy major. “It just doesn’t make sense.”